SIRVA

SIRVA, Inc.
Private
Industry Technology & Business Process Outsourcing & Transportation
Founded 1998 (1998)
Headquarters Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Products Relocation and Moving Services
Website SIRVA.com

SIRVA, Inc. (formerly Allied Worldwide), based in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, is a privately owned moving industry holding company which resulted from the merger of Allied Van Lines with North American Van Lines. The corporate name was coined from the Latin word servire, "to serve."

SIRVA is a worldwide provider of relocation and moving solutions, providing more than 230,000 relocations per year to corporations, government employees, and individual consumers through its companies. SIRVA companies include Allied, Allied International, Allied Pickfords, DJK Residential, Global, northAmerican, northAmerican International, SIRVA Mortgage, SIRVA Relocation, SIRVA Move Management, SIRVA Global Relocation and SIRVA Settlement. Company services include home purchase and home sale services, household goods moving, mortgage services and home closing and settlement services.[1]

The company was formed in 1999 when private equity company Clayton, Dubilier and Rice merged its Allied and North American businesses. In 2002, it traded on the New York Stock Exchange under its new SIRVA name with the ticker symbol of "SIR." Since 2008, the company has been privately held.

Business overview

SIRVA, Inc. is a global moving and relocation services (mobility) company. It operates under the North American Van Lines and Allied Van Lines brands in the U.S. and several other brands globally. SIRVA provides services in three distinct customer channels:[2]

Products & services

SIRVA provides relocation and household goods moving products and services through a global network of service providers and agent moving companies.[3] SIRVA also offer consumers a range of relocation services through employee programs provided by customers and member programs provided by associations and member service organizations. These services include real estate broker referrals, mortgage financing and moving services.[3]

Moving Services North America

SIRVA provides interstate moving services, including household goods packing, storage and transportation services, throughout the United States and Canada.

Moving Services Europe and Asia Pacific

Through its multiple brands in Europe and the Asia Pacific region, SIRVA provides international household goods packing, storage and moving services. In Europe and the Asia Pacific region, SIRVA primarily provides household goods moving services, as well as office and industrial moving services, through a combination of company-operated locations, a proprietary agent network, and a network of affiliated preferred providers. SIRVA operates a majority of the fulfillment assets in the United Kingdom and the Asia Pacific regions. During 2006 and the first quarter of 2007, SIRVA disposed of a number of European owned properties, thereby shifting towards a less capital-intensive business model.[3]

SIRVA history

In 1998, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice organized SIRVA to acquire North American Van Lines, Inc, one of the largest U.S. moving services companies by numbers of shipments, from Norfolk Southern Corporation. In 1999, SIRVA acquired the Allied and Pickfords businesses from NFC plc. Several other acquisitions followed in 2002 and 2003. SIRVA recognized a trend with corporate customers outsourcing all aspects of an employee relocation to relocation service providers, including household goods relocation. As a result, SIRVA acquired the relocation services businesses of Cooperative Resource Services (CRS) in May 2002. Another relocation services provider acquisition, Rowan Simmons in the UK, followed later that year. SIRVA opened an office in Hong Kong in 2003 and acquired another relocation services provider, PRS Europe of Belgium, in 2003. SIRVA is unique in the industry in that it contains both relocation companies and moving companies under its aegis; its main competitors are one or the other.[2]

On February 11, 2002 Allied Worldwide was renamed to SIRVA, Inc. SIRVA, Inc. announced its initial public offering, and its common shares became listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "SIR". During its first year as a public company in 2003, SIRVA reported operations in 40 countries with over 7,700 employees. Its network of service providers operated in 175 countries. It had revenue of $2.35 billion and assets of $1.55 billion. It provided services to 38% of the Fortune 500 companies, among 2,500 corporate clients world-wide. SIRVA had 760 moving agents; these agents had a fleet size of 7,800 vehicles.[2] During February 2008, the company entered bankruptcy and re-organized, emerging in May 2008 as a private company.[4]

SIRVA periodically acquires businesses to expand its service offering and global presence. During 2011, SIRVA acquired Peninsular Properties in Hong Kong, a real estate company providing a full range of destination services. During 2012, SIRVA acquired Concept Mobility Services, a São Paulo, Brazil-based relocation and move management company. During 2013, SIRVA announced it opened an office in Doha, Qatar under the SIRVA brand Allied Pickfords.[5]

History of SIRVA brands

Allied and North American Van Lines

SIRVA, Inc. is a combination of businesses with a long history. Allied Van Lines (AVL) was founded in 1928 and North American Van Lines (NAVL) was founded in 1933. Beginning in late 1964, NAVL created its STI (Specialized Transportation Inc.)|High Value Products Division (HVPD), which later was bought out from SIRVA and taken private as an independent company named Specialized Transportation Inc.

On November 21, 1999, Clayton, Dubilier and Rice also completed their acquisition of Allied Van Lines and merged it with North American Van Lines to create Allied Worldwide, although each former company maintained its own profile names. Valued at approximately US$450 million in the merger, the Allied Worldwide combined entity became the world's largest relocation and van line logistics company.

Other events

On October 11, 2004, a group of 43 North American Van Lines' agents, named the Specialized Transportation Agent Group Inc., purchased NAVL's High Value Products Division from SIRVA. The buyers renamed the new company Specialized Transportation Inc. (STI). On August 1, 2005, SIRVA sold its warehouse operation business to Lake Capital, a banking company. The employees who transferred to the new company were allowed to dub it NAL Worldwide, which is a limited liability company. The NAL doesn't stand for anything in particular, but it does beckon to a familiar sound to previous customers and anyone else familiar with the old North American Logistics. NAL is chiefly involved in warehousing operations and logistics.

See also

References

External links

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